


I Promise to Keep You Warm

by artforthesoul



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Anxiety, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexuality, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Depression, Fluff, Gay, Gay Keith (Voltron), Homophobia, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Pining, Relationship(s), Sex, Smut, Violence, cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 20:30:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10861533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artforthesoul/pseuds/artforthesoul
Summary: In the rural area of Bend, Oregon, sits a boys only preparatory high school. An orphan boy named Keith befriends a teacher kind enough to allow him to live at this school, for help around the school in return. One year has passed since the beginning of high school, and now Keith is ready to start sophomore year. But what happens when Keith finds himself facing a new roommate?





	I Promise to Keep You Warm

**2:00 a.m.**

Keith’s hands shook. His chest ached and his throat was slowly closing up. It was an overwhelming feeling. But he couldn’t do anything about it, so instead he stared blankly at his ceiling, choking back tears. They silently spilled out and rolled over the sides of his face. He wanted to scream or laugh or smile, but he didn’t have the energy to, he felt weak. If he knew why he was sad, he wouldn’t be in this situation. His mind was fuzzy and blank, and the only thing he was focusing on was his ceiling. His eyes were far too blurry to really focus on anything in particular. The music pounded into his headphones on full blast.

Eventually, the tears on his face dried. His eyes were left puffy and swollen. He turned his head to the side in order to glare at the small brown alarm clock on his bedside table. 2:30 a.m. Slowly, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and hesitantly stood up. When Keith did this, he swayed a bit, almost falling back down onto his bed. Once he steadied himself, he walked over to the small mirror hanging on the back of his door. And there, he just stood looking at himself. Looking at himself as if he were searching for something more. He seemed to not recognize himself.

He then rubbed his eyes, crawled back into bed, and eventually, he fell asleep.

 

  **7:30 a.m.**

A piercing ringing was what had woken Keith up. Rolling over, he groaned and slightly stretched his arm out to slap the top of his black alarm clock. Staying that way for only a moment, Keith yawned and sat up in bed, his comforter shrugging off of his body. Cracks of light shine in through the window, down across the old oak floors, and reflect onto the large wooden door about twenty feet from his bed. Keith finally ends up pushing his covers aside, and slowly meets the floor with his feet.

It was 7:45 a.m. and Keith was rushing to pull a large white knit sweater over his head that didn’t fit quite right, and shimmy tan slacks up his legs that he had to fasten with a leather belt. Fuck. _Fuck._ He was going to be late. Sitting at the edge of his bed, Keith began to lace up his hand-me-down brown dress shoes. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

 

The boy stood up abruptly and practically threw himself at his bedroom door, yanking the door knob outward and turning it slightly to the right. Once opened, Keith exited his room to the left and sprinted down the barren corridor towards the stairs, wooden flooring squeaking in the process. When he arrived at the end of the hallway, he grasped the railing and swung around, and down the winding stairs. This building was eight stories and did not have one single elevator. By level 6, Keith was panting hard. He leaned against the white brick wall beside him, and slumped all the way to the ground, hitting the floor hard. Keith grabbed a fistful of his shirt, breath ragged and eyes twisted shut. _Running,_ was probably not the best idea for a kid with _asthma_. Deep breaths in, and out. In, and out. His breathing eventually leveled, but his eyes were still screwed shut in agony from the sharp pain in his chest. It wasn’t the type of pain you felt when someone put pressure on your chest, but moreso like someone was repeatedly stabbing a dagger straight into Keith’s unprotected heart. “Keith? Are you alright?” He heard a familiar voice question. Keith looked up at the face of the person the words were coming from, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah I’m fine. I just uh... need a second”, Keith sputtered through heavy breaths. The man offered a hand, extending it out toward Keith. Keith hesitantly grabbed it and hoisted himself off the ground.

“Thanks Professor Ross.”

“Keith, there is no need to call me Professor if it’s just us two, call me Adam. And are you sure you’re okay? You seem a bit on edge.”

“First day nerves I guess…” Keith sighed. But it was true, Keith’s anxiety _always_ skyrocketed the day of orientation.

“Alright, just let me know if you need anything.” Adam started to walk past Keith and up the stairs, patting Keith’s shoulder in the process. He looked back at Keith with pain in his eyes, Adam was worried about him. This wasn’t news to Keith, Adam was constantly worrying over his mental state and how well he was ‘adjusting’. Keith began walking slowly down the stairs, to the first floor.

 

Reaching the main level, Keith stared at the large dark double doors in front of him from the base of the stairs. Once he opened those doors, there was no going back. Keith’s heart swelled and breathing once again faltered. He’s never really been good with social interactions per-say. But this year, this year he was supposed to ‘ _make new friends’_ and ‘ _get involved’_ with extracurriculars. That’s what Adam and Mr. Hobb said at least, Keith wasn’t too ecstatic about those ideas.

  
Sunlight was pouring through the sky lights and windows above the large door presented before Keith. He had to admit, it _was_ a beautiful day. And what could go wrong? Keith had nothing to lose. With that thought in mind, Keith slowly walked forward towards the double doors. With one deep breath, he pushed the heavy doors forward, light engulfing him as he stepped outside.

 

**8:15 a.m.**

A soft breeze fluttered across the surface of his pale face, blowing Keith’s hair in front of his eyes. He brought his right hand up to his forehead, pushing his black bangs back, out of his eyes. In front of him were rows and rows of booths, sporting the color theme of red, gold, and white. Balloons were tied to almost each and every booth, they slightly shifted as the wind blew by.

Keith jumped as he felt a hand greet the small of his back. He whipped his head around to find Mr. Hobb giving him a sheepish look. “Sorry Keith, I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

“Oh! It’s completely fine, I just came to see if you needed any help with the booths or decorations or something.” Keith reached his hand back to rub the nape of his neck, letting off a nervous smile.

“Sure Keith, we always need help. How about handling registry.”

“Uh…Sure?” Truly, that was the very last thing Keith wanted to do. But he asked to help, didn’t he? Mr. Hobb chuckled.

“That sounds more like a question than an answer Keith, but thank you, I’ll be speaking to the parents if you need anything. The teachers will be taking over the clubs and activities booths. Here is the clipboard of all of the student’s names and assigned dorm numbers. There is another clip board at the front table already, containing each student’s class schedule. Thanks again, we really appreciate the help.” Mr.Hobbs shoved a brown clipboard toward Keith’s chest rather abruptly. Grabbing it with two hands, Keith sighed and walked off of the front steps and into the soft grass, stopping once or twice to look at the sign-up sheets for certain clubs. And man, were there a lot of clubs. Keith had barely seen half of the booths before arriving at the registry desk in the very front. It was placed under a beautiful, old willow tree, which was also very convenient for Keith because it provided him with heavenly shade. 

Keith sank down into a metal fold-out chair behind the desk, placing the clipboard in front of him. He pushed his white sleeve back to reveal the black watch on his wrist. 8:30. He had at least five minutes to rest. Keith swung his legs up on top of the desk, and stretched his arms behind his head while closing his eyes. Keith did this a lot. He really enjoyed listening to and feeling his surroundings. And right now? It was peaceful. The wind slowly blew through his hair and the branches of the old willow tree. He could hear the tiny chirp of birds in response to one another. Although covered in shade, Keith could feel the heat of the sun shining down. Though, it wasn’t harsh, it was  _ just right.  _ Everything was perfect. Keith was drifting off.

The crunching of rocks underneath four wheels was what had woken Keith up. He took his time lifting his eyelids, revealing the world before him. It took him a few moments to completely register where he was. He yawned loudly while rubbing his tired eyes. Attempting to wake up, Keith stretched every inch of his body and swung his feet down to the grass below him. The sound of footsteps was approaching the table. Keith stared forward, and saw a tall teenage boy with red hair and freckles carrying a large box of his belongings. Alongside him was short blonde-haired woman clutching a purse in one hand and a few papers in the other. “Julian Brown.” The woman looked straight into keith’s black eyes. It was intimidating the shit out of Keith. 

“I-I’m sorry?” Keith was still half asleep at this point.

“My son’s name.” The woman shot back at Keith with an ice cold glare.

“Oh, right, I’m sorry m’am.” Keith looked down at the clipboard in front of him, scanning the list of names until he reached B. “Brown, was it?”

“Yes, I said that already.” This old woman was really pushing Keith’s buttons, and he had to mentally tell himself not to yell at her. Bentley, Brentwood, Brock, Brown. Keith trailed his finger from Julian’s name over to his dorm room number.

“Alright,” Keith sighed, putting a checkmark next to Julian’s name, “You are all signed in! Your Dorm room number is 804, let me grab your schedule.” Keith rustled through papers on the other clipboard until reaching Brown, Julian’s schedule. “Here you go,” Keith thrusted the paper at the woman, “Have a nice rest of your day! See you around Julian!” Keith smiled the most obnoxious smiled he possibly could, in attempts to irritate the woman in front of him. Sulking, she stormed toward the hundreds of booths, Julian following close behind.

This is how the rest of the day went on, Keith met hundreds of students, some of which he remembered from last year. A lot of the families were very nice, but there were a select few who irritated the hell out of Keith. Maybe he was tired, or possibly just hungry. It’d been a long day, and Keith couldn’t catch a single break. Family after family stepped up to the table in order to register their child. It was 4:00 p.m. now, and the majority of families had left after saying their goodbyes. “Ok, Robert Goodford…” Keith trailed off while his eyes scanned down the list of names. There were only about four names that hadn’t been checked off yet. “Ok Robert, you are all signed in and your dorm will be 715, you will be rooming with Will O’Leary.” Keith smiled at Robert and his family while handing them Robert’s schedule. There was finally no one in line, so Keith took the opportunity to rest. Slumping forward, Keith rested his cheek against the palm of his hand on the desk. Keith didn’t want to fall asleep, just enjoy his surroundings for a while. It was almost 4:30, which was registration closing time. Keith was so so close, he just has to last about fifteen more minutes, but his heavy eyelids threatened to close although he could hear someone approaching.

“Oh I’m sorry, am I disturbing your beauty sleep?” He could almost hear a smirk on the face of the person speaking. If he wasn’t before, Keith was surely awake now. His eyes opened to reveal a tall boy in front of him. “Lance McClain”. And Keith was right, he had a large, toothy smirk pasted on his face.

“R-Right,” Keith stared down at the pages in front of him, searching for his name. Lance McClain, Sophomore, First year at Laurence Prep Academy. “Your first year here, huh?” Lance chuckled in response. Keith traced the boy’s name with his finger. Dorm Room 802. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone, thank you for reading my fic! The first two chapters are mostly background, so they are a little short! But, I can assure you, it gets a lot better as the chapters go on. If you have any questions, please don't be afraid to ask! :)


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